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I wouldn't say either show is my favorite but I'll pick Seinfeld. 2 of the Friends are terrible characters.
So I feel the obvious show to compare Friends to is Taxi.who are the terrible characters?? i would not go that far... friends is still one of the greatest comedies of all time... Just not up to Seinfeld's level...
So I feel the obvious show to compare Friends to is Taxi.
Judd Hirsch = David Schwimmer
Marilu Henner = Jennifer Aniston
Jeff Conaway = Matt Leblanc (they're even both actors on the show)
Lisa Kudrow = Christopher Lloyd
Ok. So maybe thats not fair to Lisa Kudrow but she is one of the weaker characters in these types of sitcoms. Even if you think about Woody in Cheers she is just not that great. Coach in Cheers. Andy Kaufman in Taxi. Smelly cat? Eh.
But more importantly, could David Schwimmer BE any more annoying? Band of Brothers got it right. David Schimmer is an obstacle your show needs to overcome.
When comparing to Taxi you also have Matthew Perry in the Toni Danza slot. Honestly think Friends probably wins that one. Then you have Courtney Cox and Danny DeVito left over and thats probably not fair to Courtney Cox they're not really doing the same things.
tl;dr Taxi is the better show
If we're going back to the original head-to-head, Seinfeld is the water cooler show. I will say that I really like the Friends episode where they play Bamboozled and its the most ridiculous game ever but then the rules get scaled back to something normal and they think it sucks.in this debate of Friends vs seinfeld, it doesnt touch seinfeld...
But taxi?? I dont really see the comparison you are trying to make character to character...
but if you want to compare it... Friends wins overall pretty easily.. Taxi was a great comedy... But friends was on longer, has more memorable moments, more relatable characters, and more water cooler moments...
the will Ross and Rachael, was the hottest discussion for a long time...
I can't really put my finger on it but Friends really feels like a show thats fairly modern but doesn't have any of the modern progressive trends. Friends has all of these guest stars, people hooking up, people having babies and everyone is white and in the city living a lavish lifestyle. There was a pretty big critique on the show 'Girls' when it came out in 2012 for a lot of the same things.Friends was great in the moment when those episodes aired.
I don't think it has aged well.
So I feel the obvious show to compare Friends to is Taxi.
Judd Hirsch = David Schwimmer
Marilu Henner = Jennifer Aniston
Jeff Conaway = Matt Leblanc (they're even both actors on the show)
Lisa Kudrow = Christopher Lloyd
Ok. So maybe thats not fair to Lisa Kudrow but she is one of the weaker characters in these types of sitcoms. Even if you think about Woody in Cheers she is just not that great. Coach in Cheers. Andy Kaufman in Taxi. Smelly cat? Eh.
But more importantly, could David Schwimmer BE any more annoying? Band of Brothers got it right. David Schimmer is an obstacle your show needs to overcome.
When comparing to Taxi you also have Matthew Perry in the Toni Danza slot. Honestly think Friends probably wins that one. Then you have Courtney Cox and Danny DeVito left over and thats probably not fair to Courtney Cox they're not really doing the same things.
tl;dr Taxi is the better show
I'm a 90s kid and I was shocked at how well Taxi held up. I also think it avoids some of the bloat of some of the other sitcoms I like (Frasier, for example).Taxi is on my Mt Rushmore for network TV sitcoms (that excludes Veep which would be there otherwise). In fact Taxi was arguably more consistently funny than Seinfeld and both were much better than Friends which was not very funny to me so I was not a regular viewer.
The gals were hot and people related to the cast and their situation, as in everyone knew someone who was sorta like each of the 6 of them, and that was the key to its popularity imo.
I'm a 90s kid and I was shocked at how well Taxi held up. I also think it avoids some of the bloat of some of the other sitcoms I like (Frasier, for example).